Happy Thanksgiving!!

A Prayer for Thanksgiving

Dear Lord,
As we gather together around this table
laden with your plentiful gifts to us,
we thank You for always providing
what we really need even when we didn't know we needed it.

Today, let us be especially thankful
for each other--for family and friends
who enrich our lives in wonderful ways,
even when they present us with challenges.

Let us join together now
in peaceful, loving fellowship
to celebrate Your love for us
and our love for each other.

We thank you for the turkey, the dressing and the gravy.
This table overflows with your abundant blessing.

Remind us always that all gifts come from you.

Amen.

Thank you Sr. Mary Ellen Howard for sharing this!

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I’m not talking about Christmas – I am talking about Open Enrollment in the Marketplace.

Open Enrollment for plans starting January 1, 2015 began on November 15. I LOVE helping people enroll in a healthcare plan – whether it is through the Marketplace or helping them enroll in the Healthy Michigan Plan – Michigan’s expanded Medicaid.

It brings me such joy to see people finally be able to afford and enroll in healthcare. Some of the people I am working with this year are re-enrolling. I love hearing the stories of how having insurance changed their lives – how they were finally able to have some long-needed surgery, or see a specialist that they could not afford before.

It is exciting to see people enrolled for the first time. I love teaching them about how insurance works, what their options are and showing them how their tax subsidies will make the insurance affordable for them.

This year, the clinic is once again providing individuals and families with a place to come enroll in healthcare with the assistance of Certified Application Counselors. Connie and I both completed the training for both the Marketplace and to assist in enrollment for the Healthy Michigan Plan.

Give us a call – see if we can help you!

I'm Back!

I have taken an unplanned hiatus from my blog.

Since the death of my dad on September 2 of this year, I have experienced grief up close and personal.

I have lost friends and acquaintances, I have worked with people who were dying, I have read about grief, taught about grief, and even written about grief, but come to find out – I knew nothing about grief.

My dad was the first immediate family member that has died. It is a bitch to lose someone so close to you.

I have done what millions of people do – I have cried, I have laughed, I have been angry, I have been exhausted, I have been sadder than I thought it was possible to be. Did I mention, I have been angry?

All of this is not a news flash for those of you who have experienced losses in your life; I know that I am fortunate to be my age, and this be my first experience with the death of a family member. I have just been surprised at how hard it is.

There are days when I have barely have enough energy to get through the day. Some days I spend the entire day crying. When someone asks about my dad, who doesn’t yet know about his death, the tears start flowing.

Yet I have survived. I have found joy in my life. And, hopefully, I can once again do the work I know I was called to do.

So – the blog is back! Thank you for checking in periodically, for the support many of you have given me over the past few months, and always – thanks for reading my blog!